Stanley Cup Finals, Game 6 (6/9/09)

Tonight it was the Red Wings and the Penguins in game six of the Stanley Cup Finals. Detroit had the chance to win the cup in Pittsburgh for the second year in a row. There were no lineup changes for the Red Wings in this game. For the Penguins, Sykora was in and Satan out.

I was in my home town of Bay City, MI to watch this game.I watched it with family members at my aunt and uncle’s house.It was great to be able to watch the game again with a group a Red Wings fans.

Early in the first period Zetterberg was called for goalie interference when he was pushed into Fleury by Staal. It was called by the referee in neutral ice, not the one right behind the net so you can guess if it was a good call or not. In any event the Wings killed it off.

Then Filppula was called for tripping and they killed that off, too.

The first period was not great for the Red Wings. They were badly outshot and out chanced by the Penguins. The Wings were lucky to be even after the first period. Shots on goal were 12 to 3 in favor of the Penguins. There were several good chances where the Penguins could have scored. Osgood was playing well as usual and kept the Wings in the game. The Wings did have a few good chances of their own but they didn’t score.

Early in the second period the Wings got caught in a line change and Staal made them pay with a quick goal. That made it one to nothing Penguins.

Datsyuk got hit in the head and knocked to the ice and there was no call. It looked like an elbow to the face. I guess they must have missed it because it looked to me like a clear penalty.

The second period wasn’t much better overall than the first. The Wings were outshot 12 to 9 in the second which made the shot total 12 to 24 for the game. That’s not a good indicator for the Wings but the good thing is that it was only one to nothing. The Wings had Osgood to thank for that.

Early in the second period Kennedy scored for the Penguins. He came around from behind the net and shot it. Osgood wasn’t able to control the rebound. Kennedy shot it again and made it two to nothing Penguins.

In the third period Ericsson shot from the point and Fleury stopped it. The rebound came right back out front and Draper picked it up and put it in the net. It was a great heads-up play by Draper. Just like that the Red Wings were right back in the game.

Malkin was called for crosschecking at the midpoint of the third period. That was the first power play of the night for the Red Wings. They had a few great scoring chances. Datsyuk was especially good during the power play but they didn’t tie the game.

Then Draper was high sticked in the face. That gave the Wings their second power play but they still weren’t able to tie it up.

They pulled Osgood for the last minute or so but they didn’t get it done.

This didn’t seem like that bad of a game but the shots on goal and scoring chances show that it was pretty one sided. Detroit had the same problems that they had in game five. They looked tired and couldn’t really put much together. I think Pittsburgh just plays that much better at home. They’re energized by the crowd. Also getting last change really helps them. I thought that having Datsyuk back might be enough to help the Wings win this one. He did have a great game but they just didn’t have it tonight. They didn’t seem to be hitting as much or flying around like they normally do. They seemed slower and they seemed to have trouble making plays. The Penguins were on top of them very quickly.

It’ll all come down to game seven now. I don’t know if I can take it. If it goes into overtime I’ll probably have a heart attack. Hopefully, the Red Wings will be able to pull off one more superb performance like they did in game five.

I’ll be home for game seven.We’ll be returning to Florida tomorrow so I’ll be back to watching the Wings by myself.

This entry was posted
on Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 11:00 pm and is filed under Games.
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